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Alaska's governor, Mike Stepovich, and congressional advocates for statehood for the northern territory were jubilant after Senate passage of the Alaskan statehood bill by a vote of 64-20. Celebrating over a 49-star flag outside the Senate chamber after the bill's passage were (left to right): Ernest Gruening, former Alaska governor; Sen. Frank Church (D-Idaho); Sen. Thomas Kuchel (R-Calif); Gov. Stepovich; Sen. Henry Jackson (D-Wash.), floor manager of the bll; Wally Hickel, GOP chairman for Alaska; Sen. Arthur Watkins (R-Utah); and Sen. Richard Neuberger (D-Oregon). Senator Neuberger presided over the Senate during the historic roll call. In the House, the bill passed with a vote of 210-166. The bill was signed on June 30, 1958.
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Statehood at last!
Alaska State Library photo
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To begin at the beginning, the Treaty of Cession by which Alaska was annexed, contained a solemn and specific commitment: “The inhabitants of the ceded territory . . . shall be admitted to the enjoyment of all rights, advantages and immunities of citizens of the United States. . . . The treaty obligation of 1867 is an obligation to grant us the full equality of statehood, for which Alaskans did not press in the first eighty years of their subordination, but which now, overdue, they demand as their right.
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